SPEED bumps are set to be installed along St Stephens Hill in Launceston, which will result in a new 20mph speed limit for that stretch of road.

Cormac is putting in a series of seven pairs of speed cushions, starting in the half term holidays.

The road is expected to be closed to traffic during the day from February 15 to 26.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “It will be closed to traffic during the day but open every evening and overnight.

“The closure is booked for the whole fortnight, but if the team are able to complete the work sooner then the road will open sooner.”

The hill passes by St Joseph’s School. It was hoped the traffic calming measures could have been in place before the term started in September 2015, and last year headteacher Oliver Scott told the Post: “The safety of our pupils is paramount, and any measure to slow the traffic that passes up the hill would greatly help.

“We are one of very few primary age schools in Cornwall where there are no restrictions on traffic speed outside the school, and this is an accident waiting to happen.

“We share the concerns of the residents, and urge the council to act sooner rather than later to safeguard the children.”

The news that work was due to start soon was welcomed last week by Mr Scott: “We are very pleased to hear that they are going ahead, I think it will be a very important traffic calming measure for the children at St Joseph’s School.

“It might cause disruption if the road is closed when parents are trying to pick up and drop off pupils and I hope the council would plan for that, especially given the roadworks that caused chaos down by the roundabout recently, but I think the longer term benefits outweigh the disruption.”

Resident and town councillor John Conway, also welcomed the news. He told the Post: “It’s been promised for a couple of years; it will be brilliant when it’s there.

“The main problem is just the speed. When it’s really busy it’s just chaos. When it’s not so busy people go too fast and there have been two or three accidents where people have been trying to come out of side entrances and people have hit them going 40 or 50mph. It’s just not safe.

“It will make it a lot safer I’m sure.”

He said the traffic calming measures have ‘terrific support’ from nearby residents — adding a petition that went round to residents of St Stephens Hill amassed around 200 names.

On the disruption while the work is carried out, Mr Conway added: “It’s the price we have got to pay to make it safer.”

On other measures that he would like to see in that area, he added: “If we can persuade county to make zig-zag lines outside schools legal, it would make the school entrance safer.”

Mr Conway is also already looking to other areas, which he feels could be made safer, giving North Street as one example, and said they will have to keep ‘plugging away’ at Cornwall Council to ‘make it safer’.